Hurricanes Doubled by Giants 6-3 on Wednesday
Langley, BC – The Lethbridge Hurricanes played the penultimate game of their season-long seven-game road trip on Wednesday as they dropped a 6-3 decision to the Vancouver Giants at the Langley Events Centre.
It was the second of a pair of back-to-back games on their road trip for the Hurricanes who entered after a 4-3 win over the Victoria Royals on Tuesday night at the Save-On Foods Memorial Centre. Vancouver, meanwhile, had been idle since suffering their fourth-straight loss at home against Edmonton on Saturday night. The Giants jumped on the Hurricanes early when Marek Howell buried his second goal of the season from the blueline after a rebound off an Aaron Obobaifo crossbar shot deflected back to the line; Howell’s shot beat a screened Leif Oaten to make it 1-0 just 35-sceonds into the game. Vancouver doubled their lead shortly after when rookie forward Blake Chorney banged home a rebound for his fifth of the season spotting the Giants a 2-0 lead just 1:27 into the game. Vancouver added to their lead at the 5:49 mark when the Giants captain Ty Halaburda scored his 12th of the year making it a 3-0 lead. The ‘Canes found their legs at the midway point of the period and cut the lead to two when Kai Anderson – the former Vancouver draft pick – wired home his fifth goal of the season beating Giants netminder Burke Hood over the blocker to make it 3-1; Hudson Kibblewhite and Grady Pichette picked up the assists on the goal. The Hurricanes were outshot 10-8 in the opening period but trailed by two goals.
Lethbridge had a much better second period as they generated a lot more offensively in the middle frame. The Hurricanes cut the Giants lead to one goal at the midway point when Kade Duell scored his third goal in two games with a chance right in front of the net – for Duell, it was it fifth goal of the season as Enzo DiDomenicantonio and Nathan Maloney earned the helpers on the goal. On the ensuing faceoff, Carsen Adair was assessed an elbowing penalty and on the power play, the Giants restored their two-goal lead when Cameron Schmidt tipped home his team-leading 15th goal of the season to make it a 4-2 game; Obobaifo and Tyus Sparks were credited with the helpers on the goal. The ‘Canes pressed in the back-half of the period as DiDomenicantonio had a great chance, twice, at the side of the net but was denied by Hood to keep Vancouver in front 4-2 after two periods of play. The Giants held the edge in shots 15-12 in the second period.
In the third period, Vancouver opened with 25-seconds remaining on a carry-over power play from the end of the second period and the Giants struck with the extra man just nine-seconds into the frame when Halaburda finished a centering play from Schmidt who tracked after a loose puck in the Lethbridge zone before firing a pass cross-ice to the Vancouver captain who made it 5-2. The ‘Canes pulled back within two when Owen Berge extended a point streak to four-straight games as he received a pass from Kayden Longley heading to the net and the 19-year-old forward made a beautiful move to the backhand before sliding home his sixth goal of the season to make it a 5-3 game; Hudson Kibblewhite earned the secondary assist on the goal. Lethbridge was pushing with hopes of closing the deficit to one-goal, but a the 15:25 mark the Giants delivered the proverbial knock-out punch when second year forward Torretto Marrelli sniped home his first WHL goal to put Vancouver ahead 6-3 and that would be the final. The Giants dominated the shots outshooting the Hurricanes 19-6 in the final twenty minutes of play.
The Hurricanes were outshot 43-26 in the game by the Giants. Lethbridge was 0/1 on the power play while Vancouver went 2/5 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Giants – #19 Cameron Schmidt (1 goal, 1 assist)
2) Giants – #7 Ty Halaburda (2 goals)
3) Giants – #28 Torretto Marrelli (1 goal)
The loss for the Hurricanes dropped their record to 3-2-0-0 in their last five games while it slipped to 5-4-0-0 in their last nine outings. Lethbridge’s road record fell to 5-9-0-0 this year as their overall record dropped to 8-16-0-1 on the season. The ‘Canes are now 4-3-0-1 against Western Conference opponents.
The Hurricanes will end their seven-game road trip on Friday when they visit the Prince George Cougars at 8:00pm MT at the CN Centre. Lethbridge returns to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Friday, November 29th when they welcome the Moose Jaw Warriors at 7:00pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased by visiting the VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
